The Corporate Ladder

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

I work on the third floor of my building, which has four floors. I should probably take the stairs in the interest of my own health, but I'm slightly lazy about that. I mean, I'm not completely lazy - I go running and work out and shave at least twice a week. It's just that I'm not that interesting in climbing anything at 8:00 in the morning. I tell myself, though, that if I worked on the second floor (as H.I. does), I'd take the stairs. I mean, I'm not one of those people. You know the ones.

Well, it turns out you can't judge those people, because sometimes you are one. The other day H.I. and I were walking back from the cafe at work, and I (being a third-floor person) stepped onto the elevator out of habit. It was only as the doors were closing that I realized we were going to H.I.'s desk at the second floor, so I discretely pressed the button for Floor #2. As I did, you could feel the disapproving stares and head-shaking from the third-and-fourth floor crowd, particularly since I had no visible injuries or handicaps and wasn't carrying anything heavy or hazardous that might have excused my behavior.

Especially given that it only took maybe 10 seconds for the doors to open, us to exit, and the doors to close, I'm not sure why we find this annoying, at least in a building my size. It seems like even for someone way up on the fourth floor, we'd be adding about 20-30 seconds max to their ride, and I'm not sure anyone at my office is doing anything critical enough for that to make a difference. I mean, if we specialized in diffusing bombs or something, it would make sense.

Besides, if I can expect the second floor people to take a flight of stairs, don't the fourth floor people have just as much right to expect me to get off on the second floor and walk up a flight of stairs? By extension, the 4th floor people would have to jump off at my floor and trudge up the stairwell. Really, aren't we asking the second floor people to do something we're not willing to do ourselves? They're the only ones doing any work here.

I think the only person with a legitimate beef is the one who works on the 98th floor of some building in Manhattan. I mean, 10 seconds times 97 is like 16 minutes of extra ride time, and that's long enough that you wouldn't want to drink a big soda before stepping on. But even there, where's the cut-off between those who should be stair-climbers and those who get to be lazy? I mean, the 4th floor people at my office wouldn't last a day there, because they never walk up anything.